(Ames)– Thousands of Iowans in 70 rural communities will be contacted by mail as part of a survey about how COVID-19 has affected their lives.
The survey will be conducted by researchers at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa.
David Peters, an ISU sociology professor, says there’s been much focus on the big metro areas, but very little discussion about Iowa’s plentiful rural communities. He says they want to know how isolation, job losses and the economic impacts of the pandemic, along with a long-term decline in the farm economy, is really impacting rural America.
The surveys should be mailed out within the next few weeks and Peters anticipates the data will be coming back in by early September.
Communities selected for the survey in our region include Bancroft, Buffalo Center, Cherokee, Estherville, George, Graettinger, Hartley, Humboldt, Lake Park, Pocahontas and Sibley.
